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The Tow Hitch Near-Disaster I Didn’t Know About
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my annual battle with my ancient MTD snowblower. I threw $19 at it for another replacement carburetor, and it fired up immediately. I was resigned to soldier through the rest of the winter with it when something unexpected happened.
A dear friend called me up to bounce a question off me about buying a BMW unicorn E46 rear-wheel drive stick wagon. After we were done discussing it, he asked what was new, and I said “Oh, just the usual battle with the snowblower.” He said “I have a spare Ariens you can have if you need it.” Obviously, I was interested.
The story was that after his ex-wife had passed away last year, he helped their kids deal with liquidating the contents of her house. After the estate sale ended, there were items that hadn’t sold, including the snowblower. Neither of his kids wanted it, so rather than have it be liquidated by the real estate agent, he grabbed it. “It’s on the roof of my workshop,” he said (this isn’t as odd as it sounds; his property slopes downward so the roof is on street level), “but I don’t think it’s been fired up in a few years.”
My first thought was “Great. Another dead snowblower with old gas in it.”
Still, as with cars, you never know unless you look. So I drove the 15 minutes over to his house with a gas can, starting fluid, and my road toolbox, and was surprised to find a decent-looking Ariens AX369 Platinum SHO 24 with more chute controls than my decrepit MTD, and heated grips. There was some flaking paint and rust on the auger housing from sitting outside, but it still looked pretty nice.
I know the drill. Undo the shroud around the carburetor, spray some starting fluid into the throat, press the electric start, and see what happens. The red herring of a bad extension cord delayed the launch, but eventually I got the thing spinning. As I expected, it ran for a few seconds, then died. I drained the old gas out of the float bowl, dumped fresh gas into the tank, and it woke up as if nothing had happened. Cool.
However, when I squeezed the left lever, it didn’t budge. I soon realized that both of the wheels as well as the auger housing were literally frozen in place, though I was a little surprised that I didn’t hear the “ker-CHUNK” that my MTD makes when you put it in gear. Still, warm weather was forecast for the next few days, so the problem was going to resolve itself.
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A few days later, I went back with my Armada and a crowbar just in case the ice needed some persuasion to release its grip on the Ariens. It did, but once free, the blower easily self-propelled itself onto the sidewalk. Right then. Let’s get this done. I’d already scoped out that the U-Haul dealer a few miles away had a motorcycle trailer I could rent to get the Ariens home, so I headed over there.
The U-Haul agent dragged the little motorcycle trailer to my trailer hitch and dropped it on. But when he tightened the knob on the top of the trailer tongue, the hitch ball wigged visibly. We both looked at it, surprised. When he undid the tongue and lifted it, the unthinkable happened:
The hitch ball came completely up and out of the hitch because the securing nut underneath it was completely missing.
My mind immediately raced. When was the last time I used the Armada and the hitch? In August I towed the BMW E30 (the FrankenThirty) home from Albany. I remember afterward whacking my shin on the hitch in my driveway, so I removed it and threw it in the back of the Armada. The next tow was the Lotus Elan +2 in November. The hitch had been on the back of the Armada ever since, but I hadn’t towed anything else.
So when did the nut fall off? Did I tow my precious little Elan +2 home from New Hampshire with an unsecured hitch ball?
Focus, Rob. You can do the post-mortem on this later. I told the U-Haul agent “I have another hitch at my house. I’ll be right back.” I did, I was, and I hauled home the Ariens home without incident.
But for the rest of the day, I thought about the likely mechanics of the missing nut. All medium-to-large trailers, including a U-Haul auto transporter, have enough unladen tongue weight that they have an integrated hand-cranked tongue jack to allow you to raise the tongue and then lower the tongue onto ball after you’ve backed up the vehicle so the hitch ball is under it. Only small things like motorcycle and garden trailers are light enough that they don’t have a tongue jack. So it’s quite possible that if the ball had come loose while towing the Lotus, neither I nor the previous U-Haul agent would’ve noticed when the auto transporter was unhooked because the gentle raising of the trailer with the tongue jack probably wouldn’t have disturbed the ball in the same way that manually lifting the motorcycle trailer did. I suppose it’s possible that the ball loosened up in the three months since I towed the Elan, but it’s far more likely that it happened during the jouncing and bouncing of the 70-mile vehicle tow. And while loaded auto transporters have a fair amount of tongue weight that would’ve kept the ball in place, the idea that a bounce could’ve lifted that ball out of its hole gave me shivers.
I’ve always been in the habit of, after I’ve passed papers on a car and loaded it onto the trailer, calling Hagerty to establish coverage before the tow home, but I never envisioned something like this. You can bet that from now on I am always going to double-check that the hitch ball is secure before I tow something. And leave a spare hitch in the back of the Armada.
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Rob’s latest book, The Best Of The Hack Mechanic™: 35 years of hacks, kluges, and assorted automotive mayhem, is available on Amazon here. His other seven books are available here on Amazon, or you can order personally inscribed copies from Rob’s website, www.robsiegel.com.
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That deserves a simultaneous ‘wow’ and ‘yikes’. I’ve never seen that before, either.
Thanks for revealing yet another way towing a trailer can go catastrophically wrong. It just affirms the advice to at least cross-hook the tongue’s safety chains, to avoid complete separation.
I agree with Al T. When that nut is properly torqued on that fine thread, it’s as good as welded. Unless users are in the habit of switching ball sizes on a particular mount, the idea to drill-and-pin (or even safety-wire, as they do with aircraft fasteners), is probably the best precaution.
Regardless, whenever I’m confronted with how I’ve been spared from what could have easily been a tragic situation, I get that feeling someone’s watching out for me.
I have no more than a half-dozen ball mounts, so since my shins tend to find them at the end of the receiver before my eyes do, another measure would be to just remove the ball mount from the receiver, which allows closer inspection.
Use red Loctite.
I keep complete shank/ball assys of different size balls. Factory assembled.
Simple to change- just pull the shank pin. And inexpensive.
If i did have to change a ball, I’d use a good shot of red Loctite on the threads.
I guess I have just never lived like some here, but in my years of towing, I’ve never had a hitch ball come loose.
Some old guy told me to always put a block under the jack stand base and lower the jack to within one inch of the block before loading the trailer. Drive whatever you are loading on to the trailer and when the weight brings the jack stand base down the one inch and just touches the block your load will be balanced. Just another trailering tip.
As far as the loose trailer hitch ball, I would almost suspect foul play. The lock washer used on them is SERIOUS. Backing the nut off invariably peels a shard off of the nut- so I doubt it loosened itself.
And it appears the Ariens has a black-painted auger gearcase. That (usually) implies it is a cast-iron case. VASTLY superior to the aluminum-gearcase-equipped ones from the big box stores.
Good score! My Ariens has been getting it done for 25 years, still on the same belts!
Thankfully it failed where it did and no harm was done. You just got the biggest scare and you will likely never forget to check this part ever. I agree with other comment, it was likely post towing the Elan.
Rob, it is amazing the number of mechanics and even everyday people who have experienced this and worse. A trailer, no matter the weight, acts as a big wrench on the ball of the hitch. Just because it is round doesn’t mean there is no friction and will eventually unscrew the ball. In addition to making sure the nut is very tight with a lock washer under the nut, you should always apply a liberal coating of heavy grease on the top and all sides of the ball before hooking up the trailer. This will eliminate future problems in this area.
Well the main thing is you dodged the bullet and now you have a decent snowblower. I am afraid you will find that MTD you have is scrap metal compared to the Ariens. Made about 40 miles away from me in Brillion WI, Ariens makes power equipment like they were building farm equipment. Built to last. That SHO Platinum 24 was top of the line when it was made with their most powerful engine. Make sure to check the lube in the auger gear box before using it. Of course an oil change and inspection of the drive belts would also be recommended.
Drill a hole in the bolt with the nut tight and use a clevis pin to keep the nut from un-screwing
My bet is that you changed hitch balls and got interrupted before you put the nut back on.
I used to constantly keep my trailer hitch in the receiver of my truck. Then I got rear-ended by a large, heavy car (what they call a “tuna boat” here in New Jersey). That totaled the bumper and bent the frame on my truck. After that, I keep the hitch inside the truck or shop and only install it when hooking up a trailer. I’m sure it would be obvious if the ball was loose like that.
If you meant the ball mount (the part the ball fastens to), mine is always dismounted when not in use. I don’t care to smack my shin on one where the vehicle is parked backed in. Especially when the vehicle’s rear tires are touching the curb and hanging more than halfway over the sidewalk behind it. Ouch!
I had a similar near tragedy with a trailer back in the late ‘90’s. I had a basic 1 1/4 receiver hitch on my 1991 Eclipse GSX AWD (for a jet ski and a small open utility trailer) I had left the ball mount installed for a few months, then hooked up the jet ski and towed it 60 miles.
Upon unhooking the trailer that night I noticed my hitch pin was missing. Panic turned to curiosity when I realized the ball mount was rusted into the hitch. No idea if the pin was stolen, or if perhaps the Cotter pin fell out at some point. No idea how long the pin was missing. Sometimes rust is your friend.
yes if you can get a castle nut that big then snug it and drill your hole for the pin!
Few years ago I stopped at my local gas station. As I’m filling up I watched someone pull out onto the 2 lane highway with an older Mastercraft ski boat They turned to head east and the boat and trailer rolled across the highway on a 45 degree angle into the westbound ditch. Lucky for them no other cars were coming from the opposite direction at 60 mph and the ditch was pretty flat. No damage. Obviously they didn’t hook up the safety chains. Probably locals as there are multiple lakes in the area and they were lazy and figured why hook up the safety chains when only going a few miles. Couple of dipsticks could of killed somebody